By Richard McCullen
A herd of cattle helped chase a member of a gang which stole €4,600 worth of jewellery from a house in Co. Meath last year into the arms of two waiting Gardaí, Trim Circuit Court heard earlier today, Thursday, July 25.
Daniel Lawlor, aged 23, of Kiltalown Road, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to burglary on June 8, 2018, at Carne Hill, Johnstown, Navan, Co. Meath.
Detective Garda Pat Muldowney told prosecuting counsel Carl Hanahoe that a woman alerted Gardaí when she spotted two men breaking into a neighbour’s house whose owners were away on holiday.
The court heard the getaway car took a wrong turning and ended up in a cul de sac facing a concrete wall with Gardaí and the neighbours bearing down on them.
The gang scrambled over the wall into a large field in a bid to make good their escape.
A Garda cordon was put in place, explained detective Muldowney, who added that he and a colleague who were in position on the adjoining road arrested Lawlor after they heard livestock running in the field.
Lawlor’s DNA was later found on a makeshift balaclava discovered in the getaway car where Gardai also found two baseball bats.
The court heard the defendant admitted being in the car but had not been one of the two men who broke in and stole the jewellery. None of the other gang members had been caught.
Judge Martina Baxter who remanded the defendant on bail for urinalysis and a probation report to November also commended the owner of the livestock “for being so alert”.